Organization sends letter to FTC pleading for the search industry

As companies continue to call for regulation of Google, search industry organization SEMPO has come to the search engine’s defense. The Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization recently sent a letter to FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in an effort to explain why regulation is not a good idea.

According to SEMPO President Chris Boggs, the organization, which is made up of thousands of marketing professionals across 50 countries, wrote the letter in response to its members’ concerns. SEMPO felt it needed to voice these concerns and explain why its members want an “open, free channel of communication.”

FairSearch.org, a coalition of companies critical of Google’s business practices, is urging all 50 U.S. state attorneys general to investigate the search giant over possible antitrust violations.

The coalition, which includes Google archrival Microsoft, as well as Travelocity, Kayak, Expedia and TripAdvisor, has sent a letter, along with a 44-page white paper, outlining several ways in which it alleges Google is illegally abusing its dominant position in search.

Google’s alleged antitrust violations harm competitors, consumers, innovation, economic growth and job creation, so it’s important for the attorneys general to probe Google’s business practices, according to FairSearch.org.

A leading regulatory watchdog is petitioning the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in a bid to establish a “trade regulation” framework, which would set out how web companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter can operate lawfully.

The Center for Regulatory Effectiveness (CRE) is looking for ways to protect U.S.-based web-based services or companies, by bidding the FTC to define acts or practices which they consider unacceptable.

While Google and Twitter are both under FTC investigation, Facebook is subject to a petition for federal investigation, to deem whether they are acting unlawfully.

The San Francisco-based social networking company announced Monday — via tweet, of course — that telecom policy veteran Colin Crowell will become Twitter’s head of global public policy.

Crowell was a long-time senior aide to Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), where he handled the biggest technology and telecom issues in front of Congress over the past two decades. In 2009, he became senior adviser to FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski, helping to shape some of the commission’s early broadband policies and Open Internet order.

Here we go again. Today, in a trial before the International Trade Commission in Washington, the world’s largest software maker, Microsoft, accused Motorola Mobility of infringing on 7 of their patents (thanks in part to Android) and is requesting a halt on imports of several Motorola handsets — namely the Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq XT, Devour, Backflip and Charm. Microsoft’s corporate vice president and deputy general counsel for litigation David Howard had this to say,

“We have a responsibility to our employees, customers, partners and shareholders to safeguard our intellectual property. Motorola is infringing our patents and we are confident that the ITC will rule in our favor.”

Recently, the blogosphere has been all “atwitter” regarding the fact that, unbeknownst to the consumer, Apple Computer has been capturing location data from iPhones and iPads — meaning, if your employees and customers have these devices, Apple knows precisely where they have been. The captured location data is stored on an iPhone or iPad for up to one year and is uploaded to Apple’s servers every time a user syncs the device with iTunes.